Rudman Summer Fellow of the Week: Lexi Turner

Lexi Turner is working this summer with the DOVE Project of 603 Legal Aid, which provides legal assistance mainly to people with income 200% of the federal poverty line.  DOVE provides legal assistance to survivors of domestic violence. A rising 3L, Lexi is a Rudman Scholar, President of Diversity Coalition, Owner of DesignsByTurnerCo.  She is a member of many organizations, including ABLE-NH's Rapid Response Team and the New Hampshire Women's Bar Association. 

On the DOVE Project:

The DOVE Project helps survivors of domestic violence, and we specifically help individuals who have already filed for domestic violence petitions or stalking petitions. There are many different types of restraining orders, but we only help with domestic violence or stalking petitions after they've already been filed and there's a temporary order in place and a hearing scheduled. So once those things have occurred, hopefully the individual is working with a crisis center, but they don't have to be, then they get in contact with 603 Legal Aid. And there are a few different things that can happen, depending on the severity of the case, how soon the hearing is, and other factors. 

On preparing clients for their court appearances:

We encourage them to highlight what is important and stay focused and avoid going on tangents, which is a common thing people do when they’re telling a story. We tell them what to expect. The average person isn't in a courtroom every day. Chances are they've never been in a courtroom, so they don't know what they're walking into. And if the other side has an attorney, one thing that may happen is the attorney is going to ask leading questions.  We prepare them to expect the attorney to ask a question as if they're almost testifying for them.  Some may feel like they have to agree with what they're saying even if it's not true. So we explain to them that if an attorney is asking a question that's almost a statement, you don't have to agree with them just because they're an attorney. If it's not true, you can say it's not true. 

Also, in these cases, tensions are high, people are very emotional and so we remind them that their demeanor is very important. And even if the other person is being very confrontational and accusing them of lying, we tell them to stay calm and not respond to them and only talk when they’re supposed to. We tell them only to respond to the question and to speak directly to the judge if they need to. 

Some of it's definitely really tough stuff and a lot of it doesn't phase me. But the first day we had the most difficult case my supervisor has seen since being there. It's difficult work but important and they're all people that need help.

On upcoming responsibilities:

I recently got my letter back from the New Hampshire Supreme Court saying I'm officially a Rule 36 intern. Rule 36 allows you to practice law even though you have not yet passed the bar, as long as you are supervised by an attorney and have completed at least four semesters of law school. So you have to fill out the forms and be approved -- you have to get a sign off from the dean and have someone say they will supervise you. 

I have several different supervisors and my attorney supervisor is hoping to have me do some advice and counsel calls to clients, which will be interesting.  I may do some of those calls for family-law cases, which could be about parenting or potentially divorce. There's been a high demand for family-law cases, and some of the attorneys have been stressed with the family-law workload so I’d be helping with that. 

The Rudman Center fellowships support students who work during the summer for government agencies or 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that perform public interest legal work.   For more on the Rudman Summer Fellowship program, visit here.